SPECIAL REPORT

The First Comprehensive
Environmental Profiling
System for Hardwood

The underlying
environmental issues
surrounding the use of
wood are highly complex.
The wood products
trade and industry has a
responsibility to work with
policy makers, scientists
and non-governmental
organisations to provide
appropriate tools for
construction and design
professionals
Photo Credit:
American White Oak Chair
by KODA

During its annual convention held this year in Harbin, China,
American Hardw ood Export Council (AHEC ), the leading international
trade association for US hardwood announced the launch of
the most comprehensive environmental profiling system for U.S.
Hardwood with wide-ranging implications for the international
hardwood processing industry, manufacturers, green building
designers, and all materials sectors

A project that has been
worked on for some time, the new
American Hardwood Environmental
Profile (AHEPs) aims to give clear
guidance on American hardwood,
demonstrating the legality and sustainability of
every consignment of lumber and veneer delivered
to export markets worldwide.

The AHEPs will combine output from credible data
sources such as AHEC’s Life Cycle Assessment
(LCA) launched last year and carried out by PE
International, a global leader in the sustainability
research field. Other data sources include the U.S.
Forest Service’s Forest Inventory and Analysis
(FIA) program, the independent peer-reviewed
“Assessment of Lawful Harvesting and Sustainability
of U.S. Hardwood Exports” commissioned by AHEC
from Seneca Creek Associates LLC, and data from
the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Risk Register,
covering more than 150 countries worldwide.

AHEPs will provide access to information on the
name of the U.S. supplier, product description,
quantity of wood, commercial and scientific
species name, place of harvest, and documents
demonstrating negligible risk of illegal harvest.

According to Michael Snow, Executive Director
of AHEC, “Through this project, U.S. hardwood
suppliers will be the world’s first wood suppliers,
possibly the first suppliers of any mainstream
commercial material, to provide comprehensive
environmental impact data with every delivery. This
will have wider implications for manufacturers and
the green building industries in China and across
Southeast Asia. I am extremely proud that AHEC
has taken a leadership role. The launch of AHEPs
for materials specification will provide a transparent
and universal system for understanding the
environmental credentials of U.S. Hardwood.”

AHEC’s Southeast Asia and Greater China Director
John Chan added: “Over the next few years, we will
see a transformation in hardwood manufacturing
in China from low cost to medium and high-end
products using higher grades of wood, as well
as a rise in manufacturing centers in Vietnam.

AHEC LCA Study Deliverables: Compile Life Cycle Inventory data

Compile data in line with internationally recognised protocols for use in regional databases such as:
- European Reference Life Cycle Data System (ELCD)
- The US Department of Energy Life-Cycle Inventory (LCI) Database
- LCA-National Project in Japan

To cover major exported US hardwood species

From point of extraction through to point of delivery in the EU and Asia

A scientific study to measure impact of use of wood on the environment

Dean Alanko,
Chairman, AHEC
“With today’s more
environmentally
conscious consumer,
we not only talk
about the beauty
and versatility of US
hardwoods, we also
highlight renewability,
sustainability,
legality and positive
environment impact”

These shifts will welcome a more comprehensive
profiling system. The resulting American Hardwood
Environmental Profile will be a unique tool which
we believe has great potential to assist customers
in Greater China and Southeast Asia to conform
to new regulations and improve environmental
performance in product design and construction.”

US Exports of Hardwood Continue to Rise: The
United States is the world’s largest producer
and exporter of hardwood lumber, representing
approximately 20% of all global shipments. Despite
continuing uncertainties with many Western
economies, the growth of American hardwood
usage and applications across Greater China and
Southeast Asia has continued unabated over
the past few years. In 2012 Greater China and
Southeast Asia remains the largest export market
for U.S. hardwood lumber accounting for 52% of all
exports, with China alone making up 38% of these
exports. Sawn lumber shipments to China rose by
19% in value for 2012 over 2011 and achieved its
highest value ever at US$602 million. The total value
of all US hardwood material (logs, lumber, veneer,
plywood, mouldings, flooring and siding) shipped in
2012 to China, Taiwan and Southeast Asia combined
is worth US$ 1.2 billion.

Much of the increase in forest growing stock is in the USA
Volume of wood standing in US forests increased by 610 million m3 per year between 2000 and 2010
according to FAO Forest Resource Assessment

Wood is no doubt a precious resource but contrary
to common belief, global forest volume has actually
been growing in the last 2 decades

Team of American
Hardwood Export
Council

About American
Hard wood Export
Council (AHEC)
The American
Hardwood Export
Council (AHEC),
headquartered in
Washington DC,
USA, is the leading
international trade
association for the US
hardwood industry.
AHEC represents
the committed
exporters among US
hardwood companies
and all major US
hardwood production
trade associations.
Concentrating on
providing architects,
designers and endusers
with technical
information on the
range of species,
products and sources
supply.

INTERVIEW WITH MIKE SNOW

Mike Snow, Executive Director of AHEC has worked for
the organisation for 14 years. In that time he has driven
many initiatives and with the help of the US Department of
Agriculture, Foreign Agricultural Service, he has steered the
Seneca Creek study on the legality of US hardwoods, initiated
the current LCA research, given dozens of presentations and
attends AHEC events all of the world, almost monthly. Below
is a brief interview done with Snow.

Q. Mike, we hear a lot at the moment about hardwood
material supplies as the US construction demand
improves. What is your take on this issue?
A. If the market is there, domestic or export, then
I am confident the supply will also be there.
The market has always found its equilibrium.
The weather this year has not helped with
log supply but that may be temporary. One
issue for industry has always been prices
which are sticky on the way down because the
industry does not control forest lands; and when
prices rise the supply and demand balance
implications are well known!

Q. We also hear a lot about grading
issues for export. Does AHEC
have guidance on this?
A. One of the major advantages of
importing American hardwoods
is the fact that the National
Hardwood Lumber Association
(NHLA) has verifiable grading
rules that allow buyers to
know the exact yield they will
receive on any given shipment.
However, it is very important
that both buyer and seller
understand what is and isn’t
allowed under each grade and
to communicate clearly with either
other. The rules are a “starting point”
from which details such as colour
sorting can then be worked out between
buyer and seller. At the end of the day,
however, AHEC is a promotional agency
and does not oversee grading issues, so I guess my main
guidance for anyone with a grading concern is to talk to your
supplier and NHLA--don’t call my office!

Q. You have been Executive Director for more than a
decade and there have been some major changes in the
geographical profile of US exports in that time. What do
you see next?
A. There are certainly new emerging markets for existing
products. The biggest change has been the reduction in
re-exports to the USA from third party processing countries.
Now we see consumption in China growing much faster than
re-exports from China, for example. This points to new real
consumption of products made with American hardwoods,
not just a shifting of manufacturing from one location to
another. We see this continuing, especially as demand
develops in the 200 inner cities. I think Mexico is another
major market to keep your eyes on. The country is coming on fast as a manufacturing and consumption market as the
economy there improves and its fiscal house is in order.
Wages are competitive (by some measures even lower than
coastal China) and there are signs of a reversal in immigration
to the USA, and geography gives Mexican exporters a clear
shipping advantage to the US markets for finished goods.
Mexico is increasingly becoming a major international player.
In fact, Mexico has more international Free Trade Agreements
(FTAs) than any other country. Finally, I don’t think we can
underestimate the potential that new technologies such as
modified US hardwoods and cross-lamination can have on
the consumption of American hardwoods around the globe.
European architects and engineers are now using increasing
volumes of American hardwoods in structural and exterior
applications that require technical performance as well
as aesthetic beauty.

I believe that these trends, as well as increased
concerns over legality and sustainability bode well for
the continued growth of American hardwood exports.
Interestingly, of the top ten hardwood exporting
countries, recently only the U.S. has grown
its exports.

Q. Over the years AHEC has invested
heavily in promotion in India. How
do you see that working out in the
future?
A. India will never be the new China
for us. India lacks timber trade
infrastructure and it is difficult to
convince Indians to buy lumber, not
logs, despite the yield implications
and uncertainties. We do, however
see India as a market for products
made elsewhere, of American
hardwood, such as furniture made in
Malaysia or Vietnam.

Q. How about your feeling on markets
in the Middle East and North Africa
(MENA)?
A. That is rather a mixed bag, but in
general a success story for us. We have
seen significant growth in many markets
there is still a lot of potential. Political uncertainty in the region
has taken its toll, however. It would be very good to see Egypt
come back as a market.

Q. What else do you have on your mind these days?
A. Apart from uncertainties on promotion funding? We need
to convince the US Congress on the importance of promoting
exports from small family businesses in rural States.
On a global level we need a fair ‘playing field’. Currently there
are separate rules for wood compared to other extractive
industries where environmental costs are huge – but they are
not held to the same standards. LEED is a primary example
as wood has to go beyond other materials. Not only does
wood have to be certified, but only by one scheme (FSC). One
monopoly scheme is indefensible. However ENGOs could
be important allies in this respect, and working with them
on Lacey Amendment Act for wood was a good example of
cooperation that gives me hope.

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